Regional assessment teams of NCR created for the 2017 Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) has completed their validation for the Department’s most coveted awards for LGUs.

The SGLG is conferred to LGUs that exhibited exemplary and innovative local governance practices. Created in 2014, it aims to inculcate good local governance among LGUs and give recognition for those which consistently strive to upscale services extended to their constituents.

Cluster Heads, select Local Government Operations Officers (LGOOs) and civil society organization (CSO) representatives compose the regional assessment teams (RATs) that validated the results in the data capture forms (DCFs) of the NCR LGUs. To ensure impartiality, the teams were assigned to assess LGUs different from their area of assignment.

The teams spoke with key local officials to validate the responses captured in the DCFs; they also visited key facilities in the LGUs to counter-check DCF results.

RATs also led the exit conferences for their findings during the validation. Key local chief executives and officials attended the conferences which aim to give them perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the LGU following the criteria of the Seal.

Data from the DCFs of NCR LGUs will be encoded in the new Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS) portal for access of the National LGPMS Team. LGUs deemed as SGLG potential passers will undergo another level of validation that will be conducted by the National Validation Teams which will be organized by the Bureau of Local Government Supervision (BLGS).

Results of the national validation will be presented to the National Quality Committee for vetting, prior to its endorsement to the DILG Secretary and Undersecretary for Local Government for its conferment.

For 2017, as provided under DILG Memorandum Circular 2017-53, the SGLG will follow the “4+1 principle” – LGUs need to meet the requirements under the four core areas: Financial Administration, Disaster Preparedness, Social Protection, and Peace and Order, the latter being the new addition in the core areas.

For the +1 or the essential area, LGUs must pass at least one of the following: Business-Friendliness and Competitiveness, Environmental Protection, and Tourism, Culture and the Arts.

The new and upgraded indicators under the 4+1 principle complement strategies under the Philippine Development Plan, as well as international treaties in which the country is a signatory such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Sendai Framework.